Railway signal torpedo



Apr. 24-, 1923.

H. O. 'BEMISDERFER RAILWAY SIGNAL TORPEDO' Filed Nov. 14, 1921 PatentedApr. 24, 1923.

UNITED STATES NEW JERSEY.

PATENT oFFIC'E HARVEY o. BEMISDERFER, 0N HAMMOND, IN IANA, AssIeNon'roCENTRAL RAIL- WAY SIGNAL COMPANY, or PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA,A'oonPoiaA'rIo or RAILWAY SIGNAL TORPEDO.

Application-filed November 14, 1921. sem No. 514,988..

To all whom it'mayconcerm Be itknown that I HARVEY O. BEMIsnnR- FER, acitizen of the United St ates,;residing at Hammond, .in the county'of-Lake and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in, Railway Signal Torpedoes, of which thefollowing isaspecification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing.

This invention'relates. to improvements 1n railway signalftorpedoes,comprising, an explosive, a container therefor and a rail engagingmember for attaching the torpedo to the rail head of a railroad track.In designing and manufacturing a railway signal torpedo "there are,certain characteristics which must be incorporated in the torpedo. Amongthe more important characteristics which must be; incorporated in thecom- .pleted torpedo isa water tight container for the explosive. Inaddition to. the water tight container the torpedo must be. providedwith arailengaging member which is ,securedfirmly to the torpedo andwhich must be, capable of fastening the torpedo sufficiently secure tothe rail head of a railroad track sothat it will not be displaced whenit is struck by the moving wheelof a railroad engine, car, or the like.I

In addition to these attributes the container, rail engaging member, themethod or manner of fastening the rail engaging. member to the containermust be simple and cheap of manufacture to make the device capable ofbeingmarketedat a saleabl competitive price.

Having in mind these necessary attributesof an eflicient railway signaltorpedo, I

have invented a torpedo which is an improvement over. anything now knownand which is hereinafter more particularly'described.

The object of .my invention isjto provide I .a "torpedo of the railwayexplosive type, which iisprovided with. a container "compris- 'ingseyeifal of preferably fibrous ma-- able .rail engagin member.

other an fur th'erotij ects ns improved wrapper or container.

results of'my novel railway signal torpedo construction will appear inthe following description and accompanying drawings.

In the drawihgsf- Fig. l is a perspective view of a railway signaltorpedo constructed in accordance with my improved invention.

, Fig. 2 is a plan view showing the fibrous blank which composes, whenfolded, the container for the explosive, a modified form of this blankbeing shown in dottedlines.

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional View through mv improved-torpedo, thesection being longitudinally of the rail engaging member.

Fig. 5 is a bottom plan view of my im proved torpedo showing the novelmanner of fastening the final'ffold of the explosive Fig. 6 is abottomplan view ofmy. im-- proved torpedo showing a modified form of fasteningthe final fold of the explosive wrapper or container. I

Referring now to the drawings in which like parts are designatedbysimilar reference numerals throughout the invention, A designates afibrous blank and as shown in Fig. 2 the blank is in its extendedposition preparatory to receiving the explosivel.

which is preferably of tablet'form, and of I a shape and sizeto fitwithin the. depressed portion 2 of the central area or portion 3 of thecontainer A.

The blank or container A consists in addition to the central area orportion 3 and the depressed portion 2 ofthe four wings 5, 6, 7 and 8. i

The portions 5 and 7 of theblankwhich areop-posite to, one anotherareyof anapproximat'e rectangular shape and in assembling. my torpedothese portions are folded inwardiy upon theexplosive which haspreviously. been placed the depressed portion. 2 of the container blankI The ends of the portions 5 and abut 'appearsat 30 andawaterproofing"c'en1ent9' completely covers their outer faces; Theportionsfi and 8 of the container blank are"opposite ;'one anotherandthe portion 6 isaofan approximateYsquare shape and contains openingspears in the drawings the portion 8 has inwardly slanting sides 9 whichmeet in a flat end 13 which is of a length equal to about one half thedistance between the openings 10 in the portion 6 of the blank A.

When the portion 8 is'be'nt inwardly its end 13 is. inserted beneath theportion 14L of the rail engaging member 11 as clearly appears in Fig. 5of the drawings. The por tion 14 of the rail engaging member is thenpulled tightly down upon the end 13 of the fold or portion 8 of thecontainer blank and by means of the cement on the under side of thisportion, the portion is locked firmly in place making a completely waterproof container for the torpedo explosive.

The elements which go to make up the modified form of my torpedo asshown in Fig. 6 of the drawings are identical to those described ascomposing the preferred form with the exception that the portion 8 ofthe preferred form is replaced by the portion 8 which is of aconsiderably different shape. The portion 8 has its sides 9 slantinginwardly from a point about midway the length of the portion and for adistance about two-thirds of the width of the portion leaving a tongue13- whichis about onethird the width of the portion 8' and approximately one-third its length.

When the portion 8' is bent inwardly upon the torpedo case the tongue 13is inserted beneath the portion 14 of the rail engaging member in asimilar manner as the end 13 in the preferred form.

The rail engaging member disclosed in,

the drawings is what is known in the art as a lead strap. This strap isvery pliable and when fastening the torpedo to the rail head the strapis bent around the rail head to hold the torpedo in place.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have provided a railway signaltorpedo of the explosive type which is practically free from theobjection heretofore known in torpedoes; namely that of flying particlesof metal when the torpedo is exploded.

In addition to the above advantage it will be readily seen that mytorpedo is simple and cheap of manufacture inasmuch as the torpedo canbe assembled very rapidly and the completed structure comprises. a verylimited number of parts.

I also wish it to be understood that I do not limit myself to theparticular shape of the portions 8 or 8 of the torpedo container as itwill be readily understood that these portions could be made in shapesdifferent from those shown in the drawings without departing from thespirit of my invention.

I claim 1. A "railway signal torpedo comprising, an explosive, a casingfor the explosive comprising several folds of material, a rail engagingmember carried by the torpedo, and the final outer fold of the containerlocked beneath the rail engaging member.

2. A railway signal torpedo comprising an explosive, a casing for theexplosive composed of a plurality of folds of material, one of the foldsprovided with openingsthlOugh which a rail engaging member is threaded,and the final fold of the explosive casing locked beneath the railengaging member intermediate the openings through which saidrail-engaging member is threaded. I

3. A railway signal torpedo comprising an explosive, a casing for-theexplosive composed of several folds of material, one of the folds .ofthe container providedv with openings throughwhich is threaded a railengaging member, and the final fold of the casinghaving its end reducedwhereby it can be inserted beneath the rail engaging member intermediatethe openings through which said rail-engaging member is threaded, forthe purpose described.

4. A railway signal torpedo comprising an explosive, a case fortheexplosive composed of several folds of material, a rail engaging memberthreaded through openings in the case, the ends of the rail engagingmember extending outwardly from beneath the folds of the case and thefinal fold of the case locked beneath the rail engaging member. p

5. A railway signal torpedo comprising an explosive, a case for theexplosive composed of several folds of'material, a rail engaging memberthreaded through openings in the ease, and the final fold of the torpedohaving its end reduced as to width,

whereby it may be inserted beneath the rail engaging member intermediatethe openings in the case.

6. A railway signal torpedo comprising an explosive, a case-for theexplosive composed of several folds of material, a rail engaging memberthreaded through openings in the torpedo case,'and a portion of thefinal. fold of the case of a width, substantially equal to the distancebetween the openings in the case, whereby the end of the final foldofthe case can be inserted beneath the rail engaging member intermediatethe case openings forlocking said final fold in closed position.

7. A railway signal torpedo comprising posed of several folds ofmaterial, one of the an explosive, a casing for the explosive comfoldsprovided With openings through posed of a plurality of folds'ofmaterial, which is threaded a rail-engaging member, one of the foldsprovided with openings and the final fold of the casing having its 5through which a rail-engaging member is ends reduced whereby it can beinserted be- 15 threaded, and the final outer fold of the ex neath therail-engaging member. plosive casing locked beneath the rail-en- Intestimony whereof I hereunto aflix my gaging member. I signature.

8. A railway signal torpedo, comprising 10 an explosive, a casing forthe explosive com- HARVEY O. BEMISDERFER.

